Hamburger Steak with Surprisingly Easy Brown Gravy

When I woke up this morning, I didn't think I was going to have a recipe to blog...besides maybe eggs in a basket. Around five o'clock though, I got lucky. You see, this weekend we went to Costco, and in trying to learn how to buy in bulk, we bought 7 pounds of ground beef (that I later had to divide up and repackage in cling wrap--fun stuff). That's all the meat we had in the house too, so unless I wanted to eat pasta (which we also bought in bulk on our trip before last) every day, I needed to come up with something else.

Thomas has always said that my hamburger steak is his favorite dish that I make, and I used to love making it, but lately it's become a hassle because we don't have near the amount of spices I used to have when I lived with my dad and I've lost my knack for making it on the stove without it turning into the smallest chunk of meat ever. So, I peered around online and found this recipe:

Now, if you know me, I generally don't take recipes as is. For the Hamburger Steak, I toasted two pieces of bread, ripped them up into a big bowl, squirted in some A1- Smokey Mesquite and some ketchup, and then hand mixed in about a pound of ground beef. I divided it into three patties, covered it in the soon to be mentioned brown gravy, and then baked it for about 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the gravy, I actually followed the directions (because I was out of my element), except I substituted a beef bullion cube for the salt to taste. Up until now, I've been using the packaged brown gravy (you know, the kind that stays lumpy), but no more! I also had enough left over to go on some rice (or you could just as easily make mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower). 

Overall, I was very happy with it. The steak was cooked perfectly and though the gravy was actually a tad bit sweet, it wasn't the overpowering kind you can get stuck with. 

Happy Eating!